012:08,000[' ]| 012:08,000[' ]| < Born on the 10th. of June, 1688> 012:08,000[' ]| <2797 words. Text scanned from California Dryden.> 012:08,000[' ]| 012:08,001[A ]| Our vows are heard betimes! and Heaven takes care 012:08,002[A ]| To grant, before we can conclude the prayer; 012:08,003[A ]| Preventing angels met it half the way, 012:08,004[A ]| And sent us back to praise, who came to pray. 012:08,005[A ]| Just on the day, when the high mounted sun 012:08,006[A ]| Did farthest in his northern progress run, 012:08,007[A ]| He bended forward and even stretched the sphere 012:08,008[A ]| Beyond the limits of the lengthened year, 012:08,009[A ]| To view a brighter sun in Britain born; 012:08,010[A ]| That was the business of his longest morn, <10> 012:08,011[A ]| The glorious object seen 'twas time to turn. 012:08,012[A ]| Departing Spring could only stay to shed 012:08,013[A ]| Her bloomy beauties on the genial bed, 012:08,014[A ]| But left the manly Summer in her stead, 012:08,015[A ]| With timely fruit the longing land to cheer, 012:08,016[A ]| And to fulfil the promise of the year; 012:08,017[A ]| Betwixt two seasons comes the auspicious heir, 012:08,018[A ]| This age to blossom, and the next to bear. 012:08,019[A ]| Last solemn Sabbath saw the Church attend, 012:08,020[A ]| The Paraclete in fiery pomp descend; <20> 012:08,021[A ]| But when his wondrous Octave rolled again, 012:08,022[A ]| He brought a royal infant in his train. 012:08,023[A ]| So great a blessing to so good a king 012:08,024[A ]| None but the eternal comforter could bring. 012:08,025[A ]| Or did the mighty Trinity conspire, 012:08,026[A ]| As once, in council to create our sire? 012:08,027[A ]| It seems as if they sent the new-born guest 012:08,028[A ]| To wait on the procession of their feast, 012:08,029[A ]| And on their sacred anniverse decreed 012:08,030[A ]| To stamp their image on the promised seed. <30> 012:08,031[A ]| Three realms united, and on one bestowed, 012:08,032[A ]| An emblem of their mystic union showed; 012:08,033[A ]| The mighty Trine the Triple Empire shared, 012:08,034[A ]| As every person would have one to guard. 012:08,035[A ]| Hail son of prayers! by holy violence 012:08,036[A ]| Drawn down from Heaven, but long be banished thence, 012:08,037[A ]| And late to thy paternal skies retire: 012:08,038[A ]| To mend our crimes whole ages would require, 012:08,039[A ]| To change the inveterate habit of our sins, 012:08,040[A ]| And finish what thy godlike sire begins. <40> 012:08,041[A ]| Kind Heaven, to make us English-Men again, 012:08,042[A ]| No less can give us than a patriarch's reign. 012:08,043[A ]| The sacred cradle to your charge receive, 012:08,044[A ]| Ye seraphs, and by turns the guard relieve; 012:08,045[A ]| Thy father's angel and thy father join 012:08,046[A ]| To keep possession, and secure the line; 012:08,047[A ]| But long defer the honours of thy fate, 012:08,048[A ]| Great may they be like his, like his be late, 012:08,049[A ]| That James this running century may view, 012:08,050[A ]| And give his son an auspice to the new. <50> 012:08,051[A ]| Our wants exact at least that moderate stay: 012:08,052[A ]| For see the dragon winged on his way, 012:08,053[A ]| To watch the travail, and devour the prey. 012:08,054[A ]| Or, if allusions may not rise so high, 012:08,055[A ]| Thus, when Alcides raised his infant cry, 012:08,056[A ]| The snakes besieged his young divinity. 012:08,057[A ]| But vainly with their forked tongues they threat, 012:08,058[A ]| For opposition makes a hero great; 012:08,059[A ]| To needful succour all the good will run, 012:08,060[A ]| And Jove assert the godhead of his son. <60> 012:08,061[A ]| O still repining at your present state, 012:08,062[A ]| Grudging yourselves the benefits of fate, 012:08,063[A ]| Look up, and read in characters of light 012:08,064[A ]| A blessing sent you in your own despite. 012:08,065[A ]| The manna falls, yet that celestial bread 012:08,066[A ]| Like Jews you munch, and murmur while you feed. 012:08,067[A ]| May not your fortune be like theirs, exiled, 012:08,068[A ]| Yet forty years to wander in the wild; 012:08,069[A ]| Or if it be, may Moses live at least 012:08,070[A ]| To lead you to the verge of promised rest. <70> 012:08,071[A ]| Though poets are not prophets, to foreknow 012:08,072[A ]| What plants will take the blight, and what will grow, 012:08,073[A ]| By tracing Heaven his footsteps may be found: 012:08,074[A ]| Behold! how awfully he walks the round! 012:08,075[A ]| God is abroad, and wondrous in his ways, 012:08,076[A ]| The rise of empires, and their fall surveys; 012:08,077[A ]| More (might I say) than with an usual eye, 012:08,078[A ]| He sees his bleeding church in ruin lie, 012:08,079[A ]| And hears the souls of saints beneath his altar cry. 012:08,080[A ]| Already has he lifted high the sign <80> 012:08,081[A ]| Which crowned the conquering arms of Constantine: 012:08,082[A ]| The moon grows pale at that presaging sight, 012:08,083[A ]| And half her train of stars have lost their light. 012:08,084[A ]| Behold another Sylvester, to bless 012:08,085[A ]| The sacred standard and secure success; 012:08,086[A ]| Large of his treasures, of a soul so great, 012:08,087[A ]| As fills and crowds his universal seat. 012:08,088[A ]| Now view at home a second Constantine 012:08,089[A ]| (The former, too, was of the British line): 012:08,090[A ]| Has not his healing balm your breaches closed, <90> 012:08,091[A ]| Whose exile many sought, and few opposed? 012:08,092[A ]| Or, did not Heaven by its eternal doom 012:08,093[A ]| Permit those evils, that this good might come? 012:08,094[A ]| So manifest, that even the moon-eyed sects 012:08,095[A ]| See whom and what this Providence protects. 012:08,096[A ]| Methinks, had we within our minds no more 012:08,097[A ]| Than that one shipwreck on the fatal Ore, 012:08,098[A ]| That only thought may make us think again, 012:08,099[A ]| What wonders God reserves for such a reign. 012:08,100[A ]| To dream that chance his preservation wrought <100> 012:08,101[A ]| Were to think Noah was preserved for nought, 012:08,102[A ]| Or the surviving eight were not designed 012:08,103[A ]| To people earth, and to restore their kind. 012:08,104[A ]| When humbly on the royal babe we gaze, 012:08,105[A ]| The manly lines of a majestic face 012:08,106[A ]| Give awful joy: 'tis Paradise to look 012:08,107[A ]| On the fair frontispiece of Nature's book; 012:08,108[A ]| If the first opening page so charms the sight, 012:08,109[A ]| Think how the unfolded volume will delight! 012:08,110[A ]| See how the venerable infant lies <110> 012:08,111[A ]| In early pomp, how through the mother's eyes 012:08,112[A ]| The father's soul, with an undaunted view 012:08,113[A ]| Looks out, and takes our homage as his due. 012:08,114[A ]| See on his future subjects how he smiles, 012:08,115[A ]| Nor meanly flatters, nor with craft beguiles, 012:08,116[A ]| But with an open face, as on his throne, 012:08,117[A ]| Assures our birthrights, and assumes his own. 012:08,118[A ]| Born in broad daylight, that the ungrateful rout 012:08,119[A ]| May find no room for a remaining doubt; 012:08,120[A ]| Truth, which itself is light, does darkness shun, <120> 012:08,121[A ]| And the true eaglet safely dares the sun. 012:08,122[A ]| Fain would the fiends have made a dubious birth, 012:08,123[A ]| Loath to confess the godhead clothed in earth, 012:08,124[A ]| But sickened after all their baffled lies, 012:08,125[A ]| To find an heir apparent of the skies; 012:08,126[A ]| Abandoned to despair, still may they grudge, 012:08,127[A ]| And owning not the saviour, prove the judge. 012:08,128[A ]| Not Great Aeneas stood in plainer day 012:08,129[A ]| When, the dark mantling mist dissolved away, 012:08,130[A ]| He to the Tyrians showed his sudden face, <130> 012:08,131[A ]| Shining with all his goddess mother's grace: 012:08,132[A ]| For she herself had made his countenance bright, 012:08,133[A ]| Breathed honour on his eyes, and her own purple light. 012:08,134[A ]| If our victorious Edward, as they say, 012:08,135[A ]| Gave Wales a prince on that propitious day, 012:08,136[A ]| Why may not years revolving with his fate 012:08,137[A ]| Produce his like, but with a longer date? 012:08,138[A ]| One who may carry to a distant shore 012:08,139[A ]| The terror that his famed forefather bore. 012:08,140[A ]| But why should James or his young hero stay <140> 012:08,141[A ]| For slight presages of a name or day? 012:08,142[A ]| We need no Edward's fortune to adorn 012:08,143[A ]| That happy moment when our prince was born: 012:08,144[A ]| Our prince adorns his day, and ages hence 012:08,145[A ]| Shall wish his birthday for some future prince. 012:08,146[A ]| Great Michael, prince of all the ethereal hosts, 012:08,147[A ]| And whate'er in-born saints our Britain boasts, 012:08,148[A ]| And thou, the adopted patron of our isle, 012:08,149[A ]| With cheerful aspects on this infant smile; 012:08,150[A ]| The pledge of Heaven, which dropping from above, <150> 012:08,151[A ]| Secures our bliss, and reconciles his love. 012:08,152[A ]| Enough of ills our dire rebellion wrought, 012:08,153[A ]| When, to the dregs, we drank the bitter draught; 012:08,154[A ]| Then airy atoms did in plagues conspire, 012:08,155[A ]| Nor did the avenging angel yet retire, 012:08,156[A ]| But purged our still-increasing crimes with fire. 012:08,157[A ]| Then perjured plots, the still-impending test, 012:08,158[A ]| And worse; but Charity conceals the rest. 012:08,159[A ]| Here stop the current of the sanguine flood, 012:08,160[A ]| Require not, gracious God, thy martyrs' blood, <160> 012:08,161[A ]| But let their dying pangs, their living toil, 012:08,162[A ]| Spread a rich harvest through their native soil: 012:08,163[A ]| A harvest ripening for another reign, 012:08,164[A ]| Of which this royal babe may reap the grain. 012:08,165[A ]| Enough of early saints one womb has given, 012:08,166[A ]| Enough increased the family of Heaven; 012:08,167[A ]| Let them for his, and our atonement go, 012:08,168[A ]| And reigning blessed above, leave him to rule below. 012:08,169[A ]| Enough already has the year foreslowed 012:08,170[A ]| His wonted course, the seas have overflowed, <170> 012:08,171[A ]| The meads were floated with a weeping Spring, 012:08,172[A ]| And frightened birds in woods forgot to sing; 012:08,173[A ]| The strong-limbed steed beneath his harness faints, 012:08,174[A ]| And the same shivering sweat his lord attaints. 012:08,175[A ]| When will the Minister of Wrath give o'er? 012:08,176[A ]| Behold him: at Araunah's threshing-floor; 012:08,177[A ]| He stops, and seems to sheath his flaming brand, 012:08,178[A ]| Pleased with burnt incense from our David's hand; 012:08,179[A ]| David has bought the Jebusites abode, 012:08,180[A ]| And raised an altar to the living God. <180> 012:08,181[A ]| Heaven, to reward him, make his joys sincere, 012:08,182[A ]| No future ills, nor accidents appear 012:08,183[A ]| To sully and pollute the sacred infant's year. 012:08,184[A ]| Five months to discord and debate were given: 012:08,185[A ]| He sanctifies the yet-remaining seven. 012:08,186[A ]| Sabbath of months! henceforth in him be blest, 012:08,187[A ]| And prelude to the realm's perpetual rest! 012:08,188[A ]| Let his baptismal drops for us atone, 012:08,189[A ]| Lustrations for offences not his own; 012:08,190[A ]| Let conscience, which is interest ill-disguised, <190> 012:08,191[A ]| In the same font be cleansed, and all the land baptised. 012:08,192[A ]| Unnamed as yet, at least unknown to fame: 012:08,193[A ]| Is there a strife in Heaven about his name? 012:08,194[A ]| Where every famous predecessor vies, 012:08,195[A ]| And makes a faction for it in the skies? 012:08,196[A ]| Or must it be reserved to thought alone? 012:08,197[A ]| Such was the sacred Tetragrammaton. 012:08,198[A ]| Things worthy silence must not be revealed: 012:08,199[A ]| Thus the true name of Rome was kept concealed, 012:08,200[A ]| To shun the spells, and sorceries of those <200> 012:08,201[A ]| Who durst her infant majesty oppose. 012:08,202[A ]| But when his tender strength in time shall rise 012:08,203[A ]| To dare ill tongues, and fascinating eyes, 012:08,204[A ]| This isle, which hides the little thunderer's fame, 012:08,205[A ]| Shall be too narrow to contain his name; 012:08,206[A ]| The artillery of Heaven shall make him known: 012:08,207[A ]| Crete could not hold the god, when Jove was grown. 012:08,208[A ]| As Jove's increase, who from his brain was born, 012:08,209[A ]| Whom arms and arts did equally adorn, 012:08,210[A ]| Free of the breast was bred, whose milky taste <210> 012:08,211[A ]| Minerva's name to Venus had debased, 012:08,212[A ]| So this imperial babe rejects the food 012:08,213[A ]| That mixes monarchs with plebeian blood: 012:08,214[A ]| Food that his inborn courage might control, 012:08,215[A ]| Extinguish all the father in his soul, 012:08,216[A ]| And, for his Estian race, and Saxon strain, 012:08,217[A ]| Might reproduce some second Richard's reign. 012:08,218[A ]| Mildness he shares from both his parents' blood, 012:08,219[A ]| But kings too tame are despicably good; 012:08,220[A ]| Be this the mixture of this regal child, <220> 012:08,221[A ]| By nature manly, but by virtue mild. 012:08,222[A ]| Thus far the furious transport of the news 012:08,223[A ]| Had to prophetic madness fired the Muse; 012:08,224[A ]| Madness ungovernable, uninspired, 012:08,225[A ]| Swift to foretell whatever she desired. 012:08,226[A ]| Was it for me the dark abyss to tread 012:08,227[A ]| And read the book which angels cannot read? 012:08,228[A ]| How was I punished when the sudden blast, 012:08,229[A ]| The face of Heaven, and our young sun o'recast! 012:08,230[A ]| Fame, the swift ill, increasing as she rolled, <230> 012:08,231[A ]| Disease, despair, and death, at three reprises told; 012:08,232[A ]| At three insulting strides she stalked the town, 012:08,233[A ]| And, like contagion, struck the loyal down. 012:08,234[A ]| Down fell the winnowed wheat; but mounted high, 012:08,235[A ]| The whirlwind bore the chaff, and hid the sky. 012:08,236[A ]| Here black rebellion shooting from below 012:08,237[A ]| (As earth's gigantic brood by moments grow) 012:08,238[A ]| And here the sons of God are petrified with woe. 012:08,239[A ]| An apoplex of grief! so low were driven 012:08,240[A ]| The saints, as hardly to defend their Heaven. <240> 012:08,241[A ]| As, when pent vapours run their hollow round, 012:08,242[A ]| Earthquakes, which are convulsions of the ground, 012:08,243[A ]| Break bellowing forth, and no confinement brook 012:08,244[A ]| Till the third settles, what the former shook. 012:08,245[A ]| Such heavings had our souls, till slow and late, 012:08,246[A ]| Our life with his returned, and Faith prevailed on Fate; 012:08,247[A ]| By prayers the mighty blessing was implored, 012:08,248[A ]| To prayers was granted, and by prayers restored. 012:08,249[A ]| So ere the Shunamite a son conceived, 012:08,250[A ]| The prophet promised, and the wife believed; <250> 012:08,251[A ]| A son was sent, the son so much desired, 012:08,252[A ]| But soon upon the mother's knees expired. 012:08,253[A ]| The troubled seer approached the mournful door, 012:08,254[A ]| Ran, prayed, and sent his pastoral-staff before, 012:08,255[A ]| Then stretched his limbs upon the child, and mourned, 012:08,256[A ]| Till warmth, and breath, and a new soul returned. 012:08,257[A ]| Thus Mercy stretches out her hand, and saves 012:08,258[A ]| Desponding Peter sinking in the waves. 012:08,259[A ]| As when a sudden storm of hail and rain 012:08,260[A ]| Beats to the ground the yet unbearded grain, <260> 012:08,261[A ]| Think not the hopes of harvest are destroyed 012:08,262[A ]| On the flat field, and on the naked void: 012:08,263[A ]| The light, unloaded stem, from tempest freed, 012:08,264[A ]| Will raise the youthful honours of his head; 012:08,265[A ]| And, soon restored by native vigour, bear 012:08,266[A ]| The timely product of the bounteous year. 012:08,267[A ]| Nor yet conclude all fiery trials past, 012:08,268[A ]| For Heaven will exercise us to the last; 012:08,269[A ]| Sometimes will check us in our full career, 012:08,270[A ]| With doubtful blessings, and with mingled fear; <270> 012:08,271[A ]| That, still depending on his daily grace, 012:08,272[A ]| His every mercy for an alms may pass; 012:08,273[A ]| With sparing hands will diet us to good, 012:08,274[A ]| Preventing surfeits of our pampered blood: 012:08,275[A ]| So feeds the mother-bird her craving young 012:08,276[A ]| With little morsels, and delays 'em long. 012:08,277[A ]| True, this last blessing was a royal feast, 012:08,278[A ]| But where's the wedding garment on the guest? 012:08,279[A ]| Our manners, as religion were a dream, 012:08,280[A ]| Are such as teach the nations to blaspheme; <280> 012:08,281[A ]| In lusts we wallow, and with pride we swell, 012:08,282[A ]| And injuries, with injuries repel; 012:08,283[A ]| Prompt to revenge, not daring to forgive, 012:08,284[A ]| Our lives unteach the doctrine we believe. 012:08,285[A ]| Thus Israel sinned, impenitently hard, 012:08,286[A ]| And vainly thought the present ark their guard; 012:08,287[A ]| But when the haughty Philistims appear, 012:08,288[A ]| They fled abandoned, to their foes, and fear; 012:08,289[A ]| Their God was absent, though his ark was there. 012:08,290[A ]| Ah! lest our crimes should snatch this pledge away, <290> 012:08,291[A ]| And make our joys the blessing of a day! 012:08,292[A ]| For we have sinned him hence, and that he lives, 012:08,293[A ]| God to his promise, not our practice gives. 012:08,294[A ]| Our crimes would soon weigh down the guilty scale, 012:08,295[A ]| But James, and Mary, and the Church prevail. 012:08,296[A ]| Nor Amaleck can rout the chosen bands, 012:08,297[A ]| While Hur and Aaron hold up Moses' hands. 012:08,298[A ]| By living well, let us secure his days, 012:08,299[A ]| Moderate in hopes, and humble in our ways; 012:08,300[A ]| No force the free-born spirit can constrain, <300> 012:08,301[A ]| But charity, and great examples gain. 012:08,302[A ]| Forgiveness is our thanks, for such a day; 012:08,303[A ]| 'Tis godlike, God in his own coin to pay. 012:08,304[A ]| But you, propitious Queen, translated here 012:08,305[A ]| From your mild Heaven, to rule our rugged sphere 012:08,306[A ]| Beyond the sunny walks, and circling year: 012:08,307[A ]| You, who your native climate have bereft 012:08,308[A ]| Of all the virtues, and the vices left, 012:08,309[A ]| Whom piety, and beauty make their boast, 012:08,310[A ]| Though beautiful is well in pious lost, <310> 012:08,311[A ]| So lost, as star-light is dissolved away 012:08,312[A ]| And melts into the brightness of the day, 012:08,313[A ]| Or gold about the regal diadem, 012:08,314[A ]| Lost to improve the lustre of the gem: 012:08,315[A ]| What can we add to your triumphant day? 012:08,316[A ]| Let the great gift the beauteous giver pay: 012:08,317[A ]| For should our thanks awake the rising sun, 012:08,318[A ]| And lengthen, as his latest shadows run, 012:08,319[A ]| That, though the longest day, would soon, too soon be done. 012:08,320[A ]| Let angels' voices, with their harps conspire, <320> 012:08,321[A ]| But keep the auspicious infant from the choir; 012:08,322[A ]| Late let him sing above, and let us know 012:08,323[A ]| No sweeter music, than his cries below. 012:08,324[A ]| Nor can I wish to you, great monarch, more 012:08,325[A ]| Than such an annual income to your store; 012:08,326[A ]| The day, which gave this unit, did not shine 012:08,327[A ]| For a less omen, than to fill the trine. 012:08,328[A ]| After a prince, an admiral beget: 012:08,329[A ]| The royal sovereign wants an anchor yet. 012:08,330[A ]| Our isle has younger titles still in store, <330> 012:08,331[A ]| And when the exhausted land can yield no more, 012:08,332[A ]| Your line can force them from a foreign shore. 012:08,333[A ]| The Name of Great, your martial mind will suit, 012:08,334[A ]| But justice is your darling attribute: 012:08,335[A ]| Of all the Greeks, 'twas but one hero's due, 012:08,336[A ]| And, in him, Plutarch prophesied of you. 012:08,337[A ]| A prince's favours but on few can fall, 012:08,338[A ]| But justice is a virtue shared by all. 012:08,339[A ]| Some kings the name of conquerors have assumed, 012:08,340[A ]| Some to be great, some to be gods presumed; <340> 012:08,341[A ]| But boundless power, and arbitrary lust 012:08,342[A ]| Made tyrants still abhor the name of Just; 012:08,343[A ]| They shunned the praise this godlike virtue gives, 012:08,344[A ]| And feared a title, that reproached their lives. 012:08,345[A ]| The power from which all kings derive their state, 012:08,346[A ]| Whom they pretend, at least, to imitate, 012:08,347[A ]| Is equal both to punish and reward, 012:08,348[A ]| For few would love their God, unless they feared. 012:08,349[A ]| Resistless force and immortality 012:08,350[A ]| Make but a lame, imperfect deity: <350> 012:08,351[A ]| Tempests have force unbounded to destroy, 012:08,352[A ]| And deathless being even the damned enjoy; 012:08,353[A ]| And yet Heaven's attributes, both last and first, 012:08,354[A ]| One without life, and one with life accursed. 012:08,355[A ]| But Justice is Heaven's self, so strictly he, 012:08,356[A ]| That could it fail, the Godhead could not be: 012:08,357[A ]| This virtue is your own; but life and state 012:08,358[A ]| Are one to Fortune subject, one to Fate; 012:08,359[A ]| Equal to all, you justly frown or smile, 012:08,360[A ]| Nor hopes, nor fears your steady hand beguile; <360> 012:08,361[A ]| Your self our balance hold, the worlds, our isle.